Buckeye fans attempt to storm the ‘Shoe and steal goalposts after 34-23 win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday night. Credit: Wil Steigerwald | Senior Lantern Reporter
Ohio State fans stormed the ‘Shoe Monday night and into Tuesday morning in an attempt to steal goalposts, following the Buckeyes’ 34-23 win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
By 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, crowds were no longer present on the field or outside the stadium.
University spokesperson Dan Hedman said at 12:55 a.m. “police are still working to monitor all areas of campus.”
“The crowd at the stadium is dwindling, police remain on site,” Hedman said. “At its peak, there were a few hundred on the field. No injuries or arrests at the time that I am aware of.”
Devin Jessee, a second-year in marketing, was present just before students and fans decided to start moving toward the ‘Shoe.
“It kind of all started outside of the [Ohio] Union, and there’s a big congregation of people, and then you kind of slowly started to hear murmurs of people going to the ‘Shoe or trying to take down the goalposts,” Jessee said.
Jessee said many people from the crowd marched through Thompson Library and the RPAC to reach the stadium. Fans began to pull on the stadium doors, and a police officer attempted to remove people from the area.
“People still kept going to the gates, even though the cops got them off of it,” Jessee said. “And then actually, somebody ended up breaking one of the doors.”
Initially, a police officer would not let people enter, but a set of doors was broken at the other side of the stadium, and fans began rushing in around 11:58 p.m. Monday, Jessee said.
“The cops couldn’t stop them, so then the cops just started letting people in, and then they were pretty chill with it,” Jessee said. “Actually, after a while, they told people to be safe.”
Once fans were inside the ‘Shoe, Jessee said the only “real security,” the law enforcement had was around the goalposts, where barriers were erected with officers guarding them. Officers were also stationed around the perimeter of the stadium.
Despite the chaos, Jessee said it was “mostly good fun” with people making “snow angels.”
This is a breaking news story that will be updated once more information is obtained.
This story was updated at 2:43 a.m. Jan. 21 to correct the misspelling of Devin Jessee’s last name.
